Among to non-demographic changes affecting Spanish society, the new social role of the women stands out. Her formal education has increased, as has her partiticpation in the workplace thereby increasing her economic independence. The level of legal and social equality of Spanish women has experienced a continuous ascent in the past few years.

This change, first embarked upon in the 1960s, was possible due to three factos. In the first place, emigration from the rural areas to the city was more important in relative terms for a woman than for a man, liberating her from unremunerated work in the primary sector, especially domestic tasks, and also from rigid community ethics.

In the second place, the increase in her level of education must be mentioned. Altough traditionally inferior to that of men, it has progressively reached the same level, above all since the establishment of compulsory education to the age of 14. This is also illustrated by the enormous increase in enrollment in secondary and higher education. Over the past five years, the percentage of women registered in higher education increased 40%, a very significant figure if one takes into account that the total number of students in higher education also rose. However, the presence of women in technical institutes and colleges constitutes only 1.7% of total student enrollment.

Last but not least, the third cause of the woman's change in status, and which to a great extent is a consequence of the other two, is her greater participation in jobs outside the home. The proportion of women in the total active population, which was 13.5% in 1910, and only 15.8% in 1950, rose to 20.1% in 1960 to 24.8% in 1981 and to 33.3% in 1991.